Beyond Stress Management

Karen Neff, LMT, MPAkfneff@comcast.net

Published Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Here's a thought for you: "The Law of Personal Accountability shouts that we have the ability to choose both our behaviors and our responses! It's more than stress management; it's personal choice." This little gem, law #2, is found in the book The 22 Laws of Wellness, by Greg Anderson, himself a cancer survivor.

This law makes it perfectly clear that no matter what our circumstances, we are NOT victims of our bodies, minds or spirits, not to mention the people, places and things that surround us. Every choice we make, from the foods we eat to the thoughts we think, impact our health for good or not so good. To decide to be well is as powerful as any medicine yet invented, even if dis-ease has already reared its head in your life. In Anderson's case he was told he had 30 days to live and is still around some 16 years later.

This is not hocus pocus. It's not woo-woo' stuff that can or should be easily dismissed. For years we've been told to turn our health over to medical experts and all will be well. That surgery, medicine and prognostications from outside of us are more powerful than what our gut tells us.

But of late research is turning this old dogma on its ear. Science now tells us that prayer, our beliefs and actions as well as our responses to situations are more powerful determiners of quality of life than anything else.

The news here is that personal choices on a daily basis are critical to preventing health issues from arising or for healing them once they've appeared. We have more power than ever realized for creating the lives we want no matter what the circumstances.

The rub with this reality is that it takes time: it's not a quick fix'. Prevention or healing from the inside out takes effort and willingness and determination; it requires us to give up searching for a magic bullet' outside of ourselves for good health. But the upside is that we are empowered beyond anything we can imagine.

"Wellness is not solely a question of genetics or even diet and exercise --it's an awareness of our potential and an understanding of our accountability for using it." (Anderson)........ Maybe Tinkerbell was absolutely right when she urged us (as viewers) to clap our hands and BELIEVE, only this time it's in ourselves!!